Hill Sprints & Kettlebell Swings for Squash

Posted by on 10 October 2013 | 0 Comments

Now that we've had the chance to cover the lower body moves that will help you improve your squash game, it's time to take a look at what you can do from a cardiovascular point of view if you hope to play as long as possible without fatigue.

If you have poor cardiovascular endurance when the intensity cranks up, you won't stand a chance against your opponent when the play heats up. You need to be ready to give 110%, so training your muscles to work through fatigue is important.

One of the best training methods to accomplish this goal is to integrate high intensity interval training into your workout routine. This form of training is where you will alternate periods of very intense exercise with periods of active rest as your body recovers. The shorter you can make that active rest period, the more applicable it'll be when you get out onto the court with an opponent who's ready to present a challenge.

Here's how to do both of these routines.

Hill Sprints

With hill sprints, you'll essentially be running up and down a hill as fast as you possibly can, with the uphill component serving as the sprint and the downhill component serving as the active rest period. The great thing about this set-up is that not only will you work your cardiovascular system to a significant degree, but you're also going to notice significant lower body strength gains as well since your muscles must act against the resistance the hill presents.

Run up and down about 10-15 times depending on the length of the hill to complete this session.

Kettlebell Swings

The second way to integrate sprint training into your program is to take a very powerful, full body strength based movement and do it as full-out as possible for 30-60 seconds. Then once that time period is up, rest for twice as long before starting again.

Kettlebells wings make for a great choice for this purpose as they'll hit the lower body as well as the muscles running along the back as well as the chest and shoulders, providing a full body strength and cardio challenge.

This exercise is also going to recruit all the fast twitch muscle fibres in the body, which will enable you to attack the ball when needed.

As you start adding these workouts to your protocol, just remember that they are very intense and as such, should only be performed two to three times per week in addition to your training. Do them too often and you may find yourself in the position of becoming quickly overtrained.

If you really want to improve your squash and take it to the next level you should give SquashFit a go: